Jewish extremist vandalize Muslim sites in Isreal

JERUSALEM (AP) - A new rogue element has emerged in theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict: Unknown assailants, widely assumed tobe Jewish extremists, have vandalized Muslim cemeteries, mosquesand farmlands in a spate of attacks that have put the country onedge. These attacks, which have recently spread from the West Bankinto Israel proper, have stoked fears of heightened violence andsparked increased calls to find and punish the assailants. OnSunday, Israeli leaders chimed in with condemnations, and policesaid they were stepping up efforts to halt the violence. In the latest incident, vandals sprayed-painted "Death to theArabs" in Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Tel Aviv. Therampage, discovered late Saturday after Yom Kippur, the holiest dayin the Jewish calendar, followed a mosque burning last week in anArab village in northern Israel. For several years, Israeli settlers have frequently attackedPalestinian targets in the West Bank, vandalizing mosques anduprooting olive trees. Nationalist settlers oppose a Palestinianstate on what they say is land promised to Jews in the Bible.